This is also true in a general sense. Travel is just generally harder at peak times. Where I live, for example, we are normally a 25 minute drive from the base of the mountain. Now, however, during the peak week between Christmas and New Year's, the drive can easily take three hours or longer. Everyone wants to see the snow, ski/snowboard at the resorts, or visit Santa's Village (a newly-reopened theme park).

With respect to SuperCharger congestion, while growing sales of Tesla vehicles are obviously a challenge, there are some very helpful trends:

1. Faster SuperCharging. Elon Musk recently tweeted that "SuperCharger V3" will be extraordinarily fast, capable of more than 350 kW of power. I expect this will only be available on new vehicles starting at some unknown, future date, and at only a fraction of SC sites. However, even with current vehicles, there's room to further improve average SC speeds by increasing the power available to each SuperCharger pair.

2. More SuperChargers. Some Tesla owners were reportedly able to bypass the wait at Barstow, CA by charging at Primm, NV and Rancho Cucamonga, CA. This wasn't an option in the early days. And by adding more SuperChargers on key corridors, Tesla has reduced congestion at individual sites. A number of us are hoping for an SC at Baker, CA (between Barstow and Primm), for instance.

3. More vehicle range. By improving vehicle efficiency and selling vehicles with larger battery sizes, Tesla is helping to reduce the need for Supercharger stops. With our Model S 85, for example, we can drive from our home to Las Vegas on a single charge, provided I don't have too much of a lead foot, and we can make it home from Primm, NV on a charge. Likewise, we can make a round trip to/from Los Angeles without stopping to charge.

4. More destination charging. Tesla has been subsidizing the installation of L2 charging stations at various locations, and PlugShare shows a growing number of other options. Getting a full charge at one's destination is immensely helpful in avoiding some SuperCharger stops!

Speaking of high traffic time line ups. We were at Costco today for a roast chicken run. Palm Springs. We were in our smart ED. Couldn't figure out why the traffic was stopped coming into costco off of the main road. Then we realized that the line up, two cars wide and feeding 8 lanes of gas pumps extended 30 to 40 cars out into the street. My guess, minimum 1 hour wait to get gas. It's usually bad, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, but this was nuts. How much do they save at costco gas. Is it really that much? Glad we are a totally electric family. I'll happily plug in my car before I go to bed tonight.

My 2013 Tesla Model S is now approaching 75,000 miles on the odometer.

That happens to be the mileage benchmark for my next scheduled Tesla service. So I called my local Tesla service center, in Paramus, New Jersey, to set up the appointment.

No problem, the service rep said. The first available slot is...a month from now. Whoa. . . .

My story is not unusual. As the number of Teslas on the road—both the Model S and the now ramped-up Model X—grows rapidly, the number of Tesla service centers is not keeping pace. The result is long wait times for service in many parts of the country. . . .

An enterprising Model S owner on the TMC Forum, Troy, has assembled statistics that show how the problem has developed over the past three years. According to Troy, in the fourth quarter of 2013—nine months after I took delivery of my car—there were about 21,000 Teslas on U.S. roads and 43 U.S. service centers to take care of them. That’s a ratio of 488 cars per service center. Since then, the Tesla fleet has swelled, while the number of service centers has—well, not so much.

By the end of the September 2016, the numbers were 95,000 cars and 61 service centers. That’s a ratio of 1,552 cars per service center—more than triple the service load of three years ago. According to Troy’s numbers, since early 2013, the U.S. Tesla fleet has grown by 450 percent, while the number of service centers has increased by 42 percent.

California’s numbers are even worse: as of Q3 2016, there were 39,000 cars and 19 service centers. That’s a ratio of more than 2,000 cars per service center. Or consider just the city of San Diego: 4,000 cars, one service center. . . .

This is not a good trend.

Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].

The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'.Copper shot, not Silver bullets.

Of course that all depends on the rate at which owners bring their cars in for service and the capacity of each service center (not unlike the no new refineries in the last 30 years farce)

The familiar refrain that EVs hardly need any service really is a crock, any hopes of realizing that flew out the window when they added in esoteric features like pop out door handles and falcon wing doors. Not to mention with a Tesla nobody is going to go to independent shops for much of anything.

webeleafowners wrote:Speaking of high traffic time line ups. We were at Costco today for a roast chicken run. Palm Springs. We were in our smart ED. Couldn't figure out why the traffic was stopped coming into costco off of the main road. Then we realized that the line up, two cars wide and feeding 8 lanes of gas pumps extended 30 to 40 cars out into the street. My guess, minimum 1 hour wait to get gas. It's usually bad, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, but this was nuts. How much do they save at costco gas. Is it really that much? Glad we are a totally electric family. I'll happily plug in my car before I go to bed tonight.

This was mentioned on Electrek, and I mused that saving $0.50-$1.00 wasn't worth waiting even 10 minutes, let alone 20+. If I get paid minimum wage, which is $8.50/hr, That's $0.142/minute. That means waiting for 20 minutes better save me more than $2.83. Obviously I don't make minimum wage though. For those of us making median income, we'd need to save over $9 in order to break even on a 20 minute wait.

Of course, for us EV owners, we just plug in at home. lol. (With exception for the long trips for the Telsa Superchargers mentioned in the original post.)

Pulled the trigger on going EV on 10/2016 with a 2012 Leaf, and a Tesla Model 3 reservation expected to receive in June 2018.

webeleafowners wrote:Speaking of high traffic time line ups. We were at Costco today for a roast chicken run. Palm Springs. We were in our smart ED. Couldn't figure out why the traffic was stopped coming into costco off of the main road. Then we realized that the line up, two cars wide and feeding 8 lanes of gas pumps extended 30 to 40 cars out into the street. My guess, minimum 1 hour wait to get gas. It's usually bad, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, but this was nuts. How much do they save at costco gas. Is it really that much? Glad we are a totally electric family. I'll happily plug in my car before I go to bed tonight.

This was mentioned on Electrek, and I mused that saving $0.50-$1.00 wasn't worth waiting even 10 minutes, let alone 20+. If I get paid minimum wage, which is $8.50/hr, That's $0.142/minute. That means waiting for 20 minutes better save me more than $2.83. Obviously I don't make minimum wage though. For those of us making median income, we'd need to save over $9 in order to break even on a 20 minute wait.

Of course, for us EV owners, we just plug in at home. lol. (With exception for the long trips for the Telsa Superchargers mentioned in the original post.)

webeleafowners wrote:Speaking of high traffic time line ups. We were at Costco today for a roast chicken run. Palm Springs. We were in our smart ED. Couldn't figure out why the traffic was stopped coming into costco off of the main road. Then we realized that the line up, two cars wide and feeding 8 lanes of gas pumps extended 30 to 40 cars out into the street. My guess, minimum 1 hour wait to get gas. It's usually bad, maybe 20 to 30 minutes, but this was nuts. How much do they save at costco gas. Is it really that much? Glad we are a totally electric family. I'll happily plug in my car before I go to bed tonight.

This was mentioned on Electrek, and I mused that saving $0.50-$1.00 wasn't worth waiting even 10 minutes, let alone 20+. If I get paid minimum wage, which is $8.50/hr, That's $0.142/minute. That means waiting for 20 minutes better save me more than $2.83. Obviously I don't make minimum wage though. For those of us making median income, we'd need to save over $9 in order to break even on a 20 minute wait.

Of course, for us EV owners, we just plug in at home. lol. (With exception for the long trips for the Telsa Superchargers mentioned in the original post.)

I have never understood this argument since these people waiting in line do not then work less, but I agree that most people value their off-work time at more than $1 an hour.

2013 Model 'S' with QC & rear-view cameraBought off-lease Jan 2017 from N. CaliforniaCar is now enjoying an easy life in Colorado3/2018: 58 Ahr, 28k miles